Re: Proposed Beacon Avenue Gateway project.
Since Beacon Avenue faces the impact of competition from Sandown and Jesken, I was very surprised to hear that Mayor Cross’ solution was to add competing space on 10 acres at the south-west corner of Beacon and the Pat Bay Highway.
Now I am sure that this is indeed a cunning plan but I would be interested to hear the answers to some very basic questions:
1: A key component to fixing Beacon is to provide a long term solution to the current Beacon/Pat Bay intersection. Are we sure that some (or all) of these 10 acres is not required for the new intersection?
2: At 100,000 sq. ft. this project will potentially cannibalise some downtown Sidney’s current sales. Do we have a guarantee from the Town that none of the proposed tenants will duplicate any of the currently threatened existing retailers in downtown Sidney?
3: I note the Mayor is also proposing a tourist information centre in this project.
How will tourists from any direction get into this centre and, more importantly, how do they then get into downtown Sidney from it?
I am sure that the Beacon Revitalization Task Force will have the same questions so I await the responses with interest.
Richard D. B. Talbot
Sidney